🚀 go-pugleaf

Antony Smith <smithafPLEASE@mii.nutecnet.com.brTAKETHISOFF> wrote in
article <7177gc$ms7$1@autumn.news.rcn.net>...
> 	I tried learning ASM about 6 months ago , downloaded tons of
> manuals , letters , asm code etc. I gave up in frustration , as the
> ONLY thing I've ever managed to compile so far was the 'hallo.asm'
> file. I even read 6 chapters of Randolph Hyde AOA , but that was in
> masm , and I do not have access to a masm program.
> 	What really made me give up is that OVER 90% of all
> 'HELP'source files posted here DO NOT COMPILE. I thank the chap that
> posts them , but get an ERROR , generally from tlink , sometimes from
> tasm , can't really complain , they are trying to help me , but the
> CODE JUST DOES NOT WORK.

Don't be frustrated and don't give up, there is no reason. If you have
the stamina to stick to learning assembly after a period of six months
and only have compiled hallo.asm, you surely are willing to learn. I
do not know what hello.asm file you refer to, but I included one below.

First of all I want to give you some hints that might help you to program
in assembly.

- Stick to DOS for the time being!!!!
- Study the microprocessor (don't start with the Pentium!)
- Use HELLO.ASM as the experimenting baseprogram. Don't try another
  program until you FULLY UNDERSTAND the hello.asm program!
- Forget about macro's at first. (You do not need them, other people
  might have other opinions)
- Don't use PROC directives until you understand fully the paramter-
  usage and memory-models. (You do not even need the PROC directive)
- Stick to the HELLO.ASM segment usage and only change if you want to
  and understand what you are doing.

To get you going I included the text for a hello.asm program for TASM.
Put the text in hello.asm then assemble and link it with:

TASM hello
TLINK hello

Test the program. Do not continue until this works and you understand
why! The hello.asm file is very important for beginners (in any language!).
Use it as the basis for your own experiments. For example, you might adjust
the program to:

- Print hello twice
- Use a loop to print hello n times
- Wait for a keypress at the end of the program
- Print hello until a key is pressed
- Etc.., Etc.. your fantasy is your teacher here!

These steps seem very childish (and perhaps they are) but such easy
steps are essential for laying a good foundation for further development.
I already included some code to help you with the steps above. But I also
left out some other aspects, because some things have to be learned
while doing.

Kind greetings,

Jack Ruijs

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Assembler File HELLO..ASM

		IDEAL
		MODEL	SMALL

;**********************************************
;  CONSTANTS
;**********************************************

STACK_LEN	=	512

DOS_INT		=	21H

DOS_GET_CHR	=	7
DOS_PUT_STR	=	9


;**********************************************
;  SEGMENTS
;**********************************************


		CODESEG				;Define order of segments
		ASSUME  CS:@CODE, DS:@DATA

		DATASEG
		ALIGN

HelloStr	DB	'Hello','$'

		UDATASEG
		ALIGN

		STACK	STACK_LEN

		CODESEG
		ASSUME  CS:@CODE, DS:@DATA


;********************************************
;  Main ()
;********************************************

Main:		MOV	AX,@DATA
		MOV	DS,AX

;		MOV	CX,10			;Enable for loop

@@PUT:		MOV	AH,DOS_PUT_STR
		MOV	DX,OFFSET HelloStr
		INT	DOS_INT

;		LOOP	@@PUT			;Enable for loop

;		MOV	AH,DOS_GET_CHR		;Enable for wait
;		INT	21H			;Enable for wait

		MOV	AX,4C00H
		INT	DOS_INT

		END	Main

the best way to really learn assembly is to get a good book.
I recommend "Mastering Turbo Assembler Second Edition" by Tom Swan.
I guess you could learn off the internet, but it might be harder.

Dave

Antony Smith schrieb:

>         What really made me give up is that OVER 90% of all
> 'HELP'source files posted here DO NOT COMPILE.

Good point. I experienced that too .When I downloaded C sources, they NEVER
compiled correctly, though I don't have an exotic compiler.
When starting, my "hello" programs often crashed, too. I would never have believed
I would once be able to write whole routines or even TSRs in assembly. Now I do.
Don't give up!